In the mid-1990s, a new consensus suddenly emerged in China concerning the necessity of including "middle classes" as a segment of Chinese society. This new social paradigm, which prevails in Chinese academic circles, in the popular media, and even within the political apparatus, is very similar to the universal agreement which arose in Europe decades ago that the presence of middle classes was a necessary element of modern society. In both these cases, how to define the "concept" of the middle classes was the subject of much controversy...